Symphony of the Abyss
by Resident Bishounen
Summary: Who better to aid in the resurrection of Martel than one called 'the Necromancer? There's just one problem: he refuses to lend his services. Typo and grammar fixes uploaded Dec 31, 2008.
1. Chapter 1

This is a crossover between Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss. I'm still working on my plot outline, but I thought I'd go ahead and post this anyway to sort of test the waters and get some feedback. Since this story has more to do with Symphonia than Abyss, I've posted it here. It seems logical, then, to assume the reader has some background knowledge of the plot of Symphonia. I shall attempt to assume the reader has no knowledge of the events in Abyss, so those should get more explanation. I'd like you, the reader, to let me know if I make an Abyss reference that I don't explain well enough, if my characterization is off, and if you have any plot ideas. (And of course if I've messed up my spelling or grammar anywhere.)

Thanks in advance,  
Resident-Bishounen.

Chapter 1  
Version 1.1

**Kindred Spirit**

Yggdrassil stood before the portal, and smiled. Retrieving Martel's new host body was proving to be more difficult than anticipated, and so he'd decided to put things back on track by recruiting some fresh blood to help his campaign. To that end, he'd built this portal. It was connected to a strange land, located on neither Sylvarant nor Tethe'alla, but another world entirely. And it had shown him many things. Most importantly, it had shown him the perfect candidate. One who worked tirelessly to revive a loved one, struck down tragically far too early. One who stopped at nothing to achieve his goals. A kindred spirit. Together, success was guaranteed.

"Preparations are complete, Lord Yggdrassil." an angel flitted over to him and droned.

"Begin!" Yggdrassil ordered. The angel took his station at a control panel nearby and entered a few keystrokes. A pillar of light began forming on a platform in front of him. First only the width of a pencil, but then growing wider and wider until it was two shoulder widths in diameter. Within the pillar, a split appeared, widening like curtains being drawn back to illuminate a window. The portal was open! On the other side, a man sat on an armchair, reading an antique-looking book, sipping at a glass of red wine. Barely a moment had passed when he noticed the intrusion. Placing his glass on an end table and quickly tucking his book into a pocket, he stood, shouting something that wasn't audible. He stumbled forward, as though pushed by a gale-force wind that blew upon him alone, leaving the rest of the room untouched. As he was drawn through the portal, his silhouette began to form. The silhouette of a man who stood tall, who quickly slipped his hands into his jacket pockets. Once the man was fully formed, the pillar faded away, revealing the man's features. Like Yggdrassil, he had long hair and a serious expression on his face. His military uniform was both stylish and well-designed, the sleeveless jacket allowing for great ease of movement. The man didn't move, but his eyes darted around the room quickly, as he took in his new surroundings. They quickly settled on Yggdrassil, as the man correctly identified him as the authority figure. Yggdrassil took a step forward.

"Jade the Necromancer." It wasn't a question. Yggdrassil knew they'd gotten the right person. "I am Yggdrassil, leader of Cruxis." Jade listened calmly. He couldn't have heard of him before, but the only sign of this he gave was to raise an eye brow quizzically. "I've summoned you here because I require your assistance."

"Pardon my rudeness…" said Jade, removing his hands from his pockets and held them at shoulder height, shrugging. "…but I'm a rather odd person to be asking for help from."

"On the contrary, you're the perfect person to be asking. I want you to build me a replicator - a fomicry machine. I need you to create a replica of the girl, Colette, so I can use it as the new body for Martel." Yggdrassil said, cutting straight to the point. It was practically an oversimplification, but that didn't matter. For now, Jade didn't need to be told more than the basics, anyway.

"The use of Fomicry on human beings is forbidden." Jade responded, equally blunt.

"What?! Why?!" Yggdrassil shouted. How could one called "necromancer" possibly refuse to assist him?

"Technical and ethical problems render it unpractical." Jade was unphased.

"Technical problems? You invented it, didn't you? Besides, this isn't your world, you know. Whatever bans you have in place there don't apply here." Yggdrassil took a moment to calm down and then spoke.

"Normally, yes, but I'm also the one who forbade it." Jade kept his voice at an even tone, his expression unchanged. Yggdrassil could stand it no longer. He signaled for an Angel.

"Lock him up." He ordered. "We'll find some way of changing his mind later."

* * *

Kratos made his way to the brig as soon as he'd heard who'd been tossed into it. Officially, he was supposed to be making another try at convincing this 'necromancer' to assist Yggdrassil. Unofficially, however, was another story. He arrived at the designated cell. Inside, the Necromancer sat, reading a very old-looking book, located on the ground somewhere behind Kratos' feet.

"Are you the one called Necromancer?" He said, mainly to break the silence.

"I'd rather you people just called me Jade." replied the Necromancer. He closed his book, and slipped it carefully inside one of his pockets. He then stood up and looked over at Kratos, brushing some nonexistent dust from the front of his jacket.

"You've refused Yggdrassil's request."

"Of course."

"You know what he's planning then?"

"Not in any detail, but I can't say I can approve of a replica being used as a 'host body', no matter what it's hosting." Jade seemed oddly calm for someone being held hostage for a vague reason on an unknown world. Kratos figured the man was probably experienced enough to realize that panicking would get him nowhere.

Kratos had doubted the man would change his mind, but it put him in a bit of a tight spot. If he tried to send Jade back to his own world, he'd have to break the seal on the portal. If he did that, Yggdrassil would be alerted immediately. So the only other way to free Jade would be to send him down to Sylvarant or Tethe'alla. He turned his back to Jade and looked up and down the hallway. Then, spinning on the ball of his foot, he hit the 'release' button and disengaged the force field that confined him.

"Come with me." He said, and started down the hallway at a brisk walk. Running would have been no good; it would attract too much suspicion. Together they walked silently to the first portal, to the one that would take them to the Two Worlds. Jade was still a few paces behind when Kratos finally stopped.

"Forgive me if I'm being a bad houseguest, but where exactly are we going?" Jade asked, coming to a stop beside Kratos. On the floor before them was a magic glyph, circular, and large enough for at least 6 people to stand within it. Even standing outside the perimeter, it was easy to feel its power, the mana that comprised the glyph wanting to grab hold of any matter within its borders and whisk it away somewhere else.

"I regret I'm not able to send you back to your own world, but doing so would compromise my position here. I'm not quite ready for that yet." Kratos explained.

"I doubt that would do any good anyway. What's to stop your boss from simply bringing me back here again?" Jade said. It was a logical, but oddly good-natured response.

"This glyph will send you to the planet Tethe'alla. The girl Colette, is there. She's travelling with a group of her friends, most noticeably Tethe'alla's Chosen of Mana, and a young man named Lloyd Irving. If you want to stop Yggdrassil and return to your world, seek out their aid." Kratos wished he was able to give Jade more complete instructions. His words couldn't have made much sense to a complete outsider, but he didn't have much choice. He could be spotted at any moment, so speed was of the essence. Jade inhaled sharply.

"Seek out the Chosen of Mana. . . ?" He said to himself, and took a step forward into the glyph. Within moments, he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

This is a crossover between Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss. I'm still working on my plot outline, but I thought I'd go ahead and post this anyway to sort of test the waters and get some feedback. Since this story has more to do with Symphonia than Abyss, I've posted it here. It seems logical, then, to assume the reader has some background knowledge of the plot of Symphonia. I shall attempt to assume the reader has no knowledge of the events in Abyss, so those should get more explanation. I'd like you, the reader, to let me know if I make an Abyss reference that I don't explain well enough, if my characterization is off, and if you have any plot ideas. (And of course if I've messed up my spelling or grammar anywhere.)

Thanks in advance,

Resident-Bishounen.

**Chapter 2 - Seek out the Chosen  
Version 1.1**

It was a warm, sunny day when Lloyd and his friends arrived back in Mizuho. Another summon spirit in the bag! Lloyd couldn't wait to go after the next one. There were so many neat things to see: what the sorcerer's ring would do in the spirit's lair, what it looked like, how strong it was… but first, they needed to know _where_ it was. And so, to find out, they went to see the vice-chief to find out. They found him, as usual, in his house, sitting in the centre chamber. It was the one place that never seemed to change; everything always neatly in its place, the vice-chief seated in the centre of the room as he conducted meetings. One thing that had changed was the vice-chief himself. He looked worried.

"Sheena! Everyone! I'm glad to see you," he said, exhaling sharply.

"What's up, chief?" Sheena took a seat on the floor facing the vice-chief. The others, likewise, seated themselves around her.

"We've been hearing reports of a dangerous man in the Meltokio area that's supposedly after the Chosen." The vice-chief explained. "I've been worried."

"Dangerous man?" Regal asked. "Can you give us any more details?"

"Well, the only information we've been able to find are just rumours, but they say he collects fresh corpses from battlefields and uses them in experiments to revive the dead. He's supposed to have a whole army of soldiers he's revived that way. He's called 'Jade the Necromancer'. That's all we were able to find out." The room grew quiet as the vice-chief spoke, and remained that way for some moments afterwards.

"Which chosen does he want? We've got two," Lloyd said, breaking the silence. He sat there, arms folded, brows furrowed in confusion.

"Well, this is Tethe'alla, so it's safe to say he's probably after Zelos." Raine held her chin in her hand, quickly becoming lost in thought.

"ME?!" Zelos jumped onto his feet. "What could someone like _that_ possibly want with me?" Sheena shot him a disapproving stare.

"I was thinking the same thing." She said.

"Ouch. You didn't have to put it like that." Zelos pouted, collapsing ungracefully back onto the floor. The room went quiet again. It was certainly depressing news. Between the Desians, the papal knights, the renegades, and Cruxis, Lloyd was starting to lose track of all the different people that were after them. And now they had to watch out for this necromancer guy too? This was too much.

"So, all we have to do is track him down and beat him up, right?" he said, grinning. "No problem!"

"Well, it'd be hard to do that without any reliable information on him, but I do agree it'd probably better to confront this Jade on our terms, rather than his." Raine's voice was quiet, serious. The possibility of a difficult fight in the near future was still very real.

"The first thing we should do is to find out more about him." Regal sat cross-legged on the floor, his arms stretched out in front of him. Lloyd sprang to his feet. The others around him nodded their agreement.

"He's supposed to be in Meltokio, right? So then it's settled. We're going to Meltokio!"

* * *

  
Lloyd replaced the manhole cover once everyone had made it through. After an uneventful trip, it was now time to get back to the task at hand; track down this Jade the Necromancer and find out what he wanted with Zelos. Zelos had a ton of questions he wanted to ask. Why did he want him? Was he with Cruxis or the Desians? Had they given up on Colette? Or was he working for the king and the papal knights?

"So I guess the first thing is to start asking around, huh?" Lloyd asked. Zelos stretched his arms out over his head and took a step forward.

"Just leave that to me," he said, making his way over to a middle-aged woman, hurrying her way home after having stopped at the item shop. He stopped directly in front of her path, so that she was forced to stop.

"Hey there, beautiful. Where are you going in such a hurry?" he said, giving her his usual flirty smile. The lady back stepped and let out a gasp before she looked up at Zelos and realized who he was.

"Chosen one!" her eyes lit up, unmistakeably the reaction of a woman immensely relieved. "Thank goodness you're here. It's horrible -"

"- I know. Jade the Necromancer, right?" He raised a hand to interrupt her.

"So, you're really here to deal with him?" The woman clutched her shopping to her chest. Zelos nodded, striking what he thought to be a dashing and heroic pose.

"That's right; just leave it to The Incredible Zelos!" he bragged. "But, uh, I could use your help."

"Anything, Chosen One!"

"Can you tell me anything about him? What he looks like?" he asked. The woman dropped her arms to her sides, her shopping bag hanging from a few fingers on her left hand. She shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you. Nobody knows what he looks like. I really must be going..." with that, the woman hurried on her way, rounding a corner and vanishing out of sight.

"Now what do we do?" asked Genis. It was obvious he was disappointed that the lead didn't pan out.

"_Someone_ must be spreading these rumours. If we track them down, we should be able to find the Necromancer." Raine replied. In retrospect, it seemed kind of obvious. Why hadn't Zelos thought of that?

"If we split into groups, we'll be able to cover more ground." said Presea.

* * *

  
Zelos teamed up with Lloyd, Genis and Sheena, and the four of them decided to try and track down the Necromancer by visiting Zelos' favourite spots around the city. After all, Zelos was the target, right? Zelos knew that if he were out to get himself, those would be the first places he'd look. With that in mind, the first place they looked was Zelos' favourite bar. The latest terror spreading through the city didn't seem to have hurt the bar's business any. It was as busy and bustling as ever, with the after-work crowd. Friends were crowded around tables, refilling pitchers and chatting loudly. A few women sat in a row along the left side of the bar, flirting with the bartender. Most noticeable, though, was the person sitting by themselves on the right, sipping liquor alone. It was someone with long, light brown hair, wearing what was either a jacket or a dress. Zelos couldn't be sure, exactly, from the far side of the bar, but in he was more inclined to believe it was the latter.

"Hey, who's that? I don't think I've seen _her_ before." Zelos whispered to the other three.

"Who, the one sitting off on their own?" asked Lloyd.

"Oooh.. I get it. She's sitting by herself. Nobody would come to a bar by themselves if they thought a killer was on the loose!" Genis whispered.

"Exactly." Zelos agreed, and the two of them looked expectantly over at Lloyd. Unfortunately, he had that vacant look to his face.

"I don't get it... she's not afraid of the guy that's after Zelos?" Lloyd asked.

"Exactly. So if she's not afraid, that means she might know something that the other people don't." Sheena explained, not quite as patiently than Zelos thought he would have been able. Sure, Lloyd was pretty thick, but there was no point stressing over it... it worked for him. To his credit, Lloyd managed to get the point this time.

"Then we should talk to her!" he said, forgetting his internal volume control. A few patrons sitting at a table nearby turned around and gave him dirty looks. Zelos wasted no time in taking a few steps forward, calling back to the other three.

"Leave this to me!" He strutted his way across the bar and over to the alleged-female, leaning over her shoulder. "Hey there, beauty. You must be new in town. It's dangerous for a pretty lady to hang out in places like this alone, these days." He put a hand on her back, and smiled warmly. The woman said nothing, but looked up at him out of the corners of her eyes.

"That idiot's going to get himself in trouble if he goes at it _that_ way!" Zelos could hear Sheena whisper from the far side of the room.

"C-calm down. Let's just give him a chance." said Lloyd. Zelos guessed that he was probably holding Sheena back, from the sound of things. He ignored them and continued.

"They say this weirdo called Jade the Necromancer is in this area, and that he uses human bodies in weird experiments. FRESH bodies. Even if you're new in town, you have to have heard the rumours by now." The woman put down her empty glass, and turned to face him. Her expression changed to one of amusement; Zelos found it kind of creepy.

"Of course I've heard them. I'm the one who started the rumours, after all." Zelos was so surprised by the voice that answered him, he practically fell over backwards. It was decidedly... tenor. It was a man! When this was all over, the first thing he would do would be to get his eyes checked. The man turned away long enough to pay for his drinks, and then stood up.

"I- I think my friends will want to talk to you." said Zelos.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
Version 1.1**

Less than an hour later, the group, plus Jade, were assembled in the drawing room on the ground floor of Zelos' house. The party sat in various couches and chairs that had been arranged around the room, while Jade stood in front, preparing to tell his 'Jade the Necromancer' story again. It had happened more than a few times that someone would hear that he was the source of the rumours, and ask to hear the tale directly from him. He didn't mind. It was exactly what he wanted.

"So, you're the one who started the rumours about the Necromancer?" Regal asked. Jade nodded.

"That's correct."

"Do you know him? What does he want with Zelos?" Genis sprang from his seat.

"Zelos?" Jade asked, momentarily avoiding the question. Not having heard that name before, he scanned the room for clarification. The redhead who'd flirted with him in the bar grimaced, and raised a hand slowly.

"Ah, so you're the Chosen one." Jade realized. "Well, in that case I'd best come clean. I'm Jade the Necromancer. My name is Jade Curtiss." The atmosphere in the room grew visibly tenser. The expressions on everyone's faces changed from shades of mere curiosity, to shock, or suspicion.

"Well, that clears some things up, but it doesn't really answer the question," said Raine.

"No, of course not." Jade said under his breath. He almost wished Guy were with him; Jade hated having to explain himself.

"I started spreading nasty rumours about myself because I thought it would be easier for you to find me than vice-versa." Jade tried to summarize his story as best he could, for brevity's sake, telling them about the plan to replicate Colette, his refusal, and how the man who'd helped him escape suggested he locate 'the Chosen'. The reaction he got was less than ideal. A girl in the front, the popular Colette, seemed somewhat frightened, but everybody else could be better described as skeptical. It was hardly surprising. It was a rather far-fetched story.

"Oh, come on. Do you really expect us to believe that? How do we know you're not just making that up to get us to trust you?" Sheena sat back on one end of a couch, arms folded and legs crossed, staring emotionlessly.

"I suppose you don't." Jade shrugged, shifting his weight to his right foot. Now that he thought of it, he didn't really have anything with him that was decidedly Auldrantian. Luke kept their map in his item bag, and his forbidden text could be any old book. How does one prove one is an extra-terrestrial to a population who looks just like your own? "But even if I was lying, wouldn't you rather be able to keep an eye on me, rather than leave me to reappear at any moment?" There was a moment of silence, and the group gathered together to discuss the situation amongst themselves. Jade stood where he was and waited, pulling out his forbidden text and inspecting a diagram as a way of pretending that he wasn't eavesdropping. Animated whispering radiated from the huddle, pausing every now and then when somebody would poke their head away from the group to glance over at Jade. This continued on for a good fifteen minutes, until the group finally separated.

"Alright, fine. You can travel around with us, but that doesn't mean we believe you." said Lloyd. "And don't try anything funny!"

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it." said Jade.

* * *

He hadn't returned to his own world, Yggdrassil was certain of that. If anyone had tried to activate it, an alarm would have sounded immediately, and Yggdrassil would know. He wasn't still on Dherris-Kharlan. Yggdrassil had sent angels to search everywhere, and not one had returned with any results. Jade Curtiss had to have gone to one of the two worlds. But why? Why run from the inevitable? In order to return to his own world, Jade would need Yggdrassil's permission. And he wouldn't receive it until he created the replica. Running away like this would achieve nothing. Or was he hoping to build his own portal? Yggdrassil's observations of Jade's world made it clear they didn't possess that level of technology. He wouldn't even know where to begin!

"I'm going to the portal. Bring me Pronyma." Yggdrassil told a nearby angel he passed by somewhere along the way. This was merely another delay. Jade's refusal wasn't going to change anything. Even if he refused, there were other ways. He just needed to do a little more research. He reached the portal room, and began the start-up procedure, for observation mode. He didn't need to pull anyone else over. Not yet.

The start-up procedure for the portal was much longer and involved than the ones for most other devices, but Yggdrassil liked it that way. He wanted to make absolutely certain that nobody could use it without his consent. If it meant that it became an exercise in patience, then so be it. First, he lowered the magic seal surrounding it, by means of a voice command he hadn't told anyone. Next, he had to input a series of commands on three different consoles before the device would begin charging power. Once the charge was at 100, it would finally initiate. Once this was underway, he leaned against a console and waited, taking the time to decide where he should begin his observations. The charge was up to 80 by the time Pronyma arrived.

"You summoned me, Lord Yggdrassil?" Pronyma stood a respectable distance from his left, on the perimeter of the deactivated magic seal. Yggdrassil stood up.

"You've never been here before, have you?" he strode up to her, brushing a hand along the control panel as he went.

"No. I -I've been -" she started, eyebrows lifted, looking like she'd taken this to be an accusation.

"- busy. Of course. Do you know what it is?" he interrupted.

"It's a portal, isn't it?" her eyes drifted across the device, examining the platform, the control stations that surrounded it, and the console Yggdrassil's hand rested on, where the display read 'CHARGING COMPLETE'.

"That's correct. It's a portal that leads to another world. One completely separate from Sylvarant or Tethe'alla. I summoned someone here with it yesterday." said Yggdrassil. "Did you know that?"

"Yes, My Lord... someone called Jared? Jack?"

"Jade. Jade the Necromancer."

"Necromancer? Can he really -"

"For my purposes, yes. But he's being very uncooperative. He escaped." Yggdrassil removed his hand from the console, standing tall and stiff.

"Lord Yggdrassil, please, allow me to retrieve him. I won't fail, I promise you." Pronyma took the hint quickly.

"Good. I won't tolerate failure." Yggdrassil turned his back and started to return to the centre console. "He's probably found Colette by now. Try and bring them both, if you can." Pronyma nodded obediently and left.

* * *

With one more addition to their party, Lloyd, Genis, and the gang continued on their quest to form pacts with the remaining summon spirits. This time, the target was the summon spirit of earth, Gnome. Genis half-expected Jade to try something once everyone was busy battling Gnome. More than half-expected, really. And so, he made sure to keep his eye on him. The thing was, he didn't seem to be looking for any opportunity to try anything. He stayed near the back of the group so he wouldn't have to fight. He didn't interfere when they had to cook curry for the gnomelettes. He even snickered at Regal's "cooking-with-his-feet" joke. It was strange. That creepy smile of his, that weird attitude, and that weird story about why he was after Colette. Claiming to be from a planet that nobody had heard of, summoned her by a method he couldn't explain and narrowly escaping being forced to make a copy of Colette in a way he wouldn't explain. There were just too many unknowns he wouldn't explain. Wasn't the simpler explanation that he was just trying to get close to the group so he could nab Colette? And wasn't the simplest explanation usually correct?

Genis's observations finally paid off when, halfway to the dais on which Gnome would appear, the group encountered a dragon. It was huge and dark grey, with gigantic wings and massive legs ending in sharp, pointed talons. And it was angry. The group scrambled into formation as it swooped down towards them, teeth bared, roaring viciously. Lloyd took pole position, as usual, slicing at it with his dual swords and distracting it from Genis, giving him time to cast something. Raine also took the rear line, readying her support and healing spells. Against a monster this nasty, they would probably need it. Lastly, Regal attacked the opposite side of the beast to Lloyd, literally kicking its ass with his hands tied. The others stood back. Any more people and there'd be no room to move and more risk of being accidentally injured by their allies than being attacked by the dragon. They waited, ready to step in if any of the first four grew too tired or injured to fight.

Or that's how it should have been, at least. Instead of standing back with the others, Jade took a position to Genis' left, and held his right fist to his chest, muttering something under his breath. What did he think he was doing? He wasn't even armed. Genis sighed and began chanting.

" . . . let loose the might of your brilliant colours." Genis heard the tail end of Jade's speech. It sounded like an incantation. Jade was trying to use magic? Was he a half-elf? Genis found out when Jade finished his spell first.

"Prism Sword!" he shouted, thrusting his arm dramatically towards the dragon. Small, glowing clusters of mana formed along the path that connected the two, sparking sporadically, but nothing impressive happened. Jade cursed and stepped back, lost in thought. Right. So he wasn't a half-elf. Genis rolled his eyes and finished his own spell.

"Spread!" he cried, and a large mass of water appeared over the dragon's head, slamming into it. Almost the opposite effect of jumping off a tall bridge and slamming into a lake. Jade didn't interfere for the rest of the battle, and although the battle was lengthy, it wasn't terribly difficult. With the dragon finally vanquished, the group continued along, following the gomelettes to the temple. Prism Sword? Jade was a human. Genis was certain of that. He would have been able to tell if Jade had any elven blood. But the way he cast Prism Sword didn't sound like he was experimenting. He sounded like he knew what he was doing. He expected something to happen. But why? Was he that stupid? Did he really think he could use magic? Genis just hoped that he would have more sense than to interfere with the fight against Gnome.

Gnome's casual nature caught the gang by surprise, but true to form, he challenged the group to a battle just as every other summon spirit had. This time Presea, Zelos and Colette joined Sheena in the first wave of battle. As the others stood ready for their turn, Genis kept his eye on Jade. He was biting his lower lip, lost in thought.

"Thunder Blade!" Zelos called, his attack striking Gnome square in the back. Gnome paused a moment, stunned, and sent a Ground Dasher spell out towards the party. Lloyd and Regal leapt to the right of the growing fissure. Genis and Jade leapt left. As soon as he'd regained his footing, Jade started chanting something.

"It won't work!" Genis told him, but Jade ignored him and kept chanting. He launched his spell after Gnome'd leapt backwards to avoid a swift swing of Presea's axe.

"Stalagmite!" Jade launched his spell with the same dramatic thrust of his arm, and something unusual happened. Much to Genis' surprise, the spell worked. Sort of. Instead of the giant stalagmite thrusting up from under Gnome's large form, a small spike formed. It was only about half the size of a normal Stalagmite, but still. It was there. Of course, it did no good. Earth-based spells were powered by Gnome's mana, after all. Gnome's reaction was to chuckle to himself, and turn back to Presea, launching a Ground Dasher spell that she failed to avoid by little more than a second.

"What were you thinking? Using stalagmite against Gnome?" Genis turned to Jade as soon as he was able.

"Sorry." Jade didn't take his eyes off the fight, that focused, lost-in-thought expression still on his face. "I just thought it would be most likely to work." It made sense in a roundabout sort of way. Here, in the temple of earth, Gnome's mana was strongest. Which meant earth-type magic was stronger and easier to cast here. But all that only applied to people with elven blood. Genis was certain Jade was human. And yet, he'd just cast Stalagmite.

"I'm certain I've got it figured out this time." Jade continued, and took advantage of another opening to do his hand-to-shoulder chanting again.

"Oh violent torrent. . . Splash!" He thrust his arm out dramatically like always, and a pillar of water formed over Gnome's head, smashing into him. He was stunned just long enough for Sheena to land the finishing blow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4  
Version 1.1**

That evening, a few hours' walk from the Temple of Earth, the two Chosen and their group sat around a roaring campfire. Supper safely in their bellies, the group had fallen into silence. Normally around this time, the group would be engaged in discussions about their hobbies, their lives before they met with the group, their future plans, and things like that. Today, things were different. There was still the matter of the newcomer. Raine, for her part, still hadn't decided if she believed his story or not. On the one hand, he'd assisted them in the battle with Gnome, even if it hadn't amounted to much. And Raine sympathized with his stand on replicants' basic rights. On the other hand, he could use basic magic, which would be within his ability if he was really a Desian spy.

"Say, Jade," Lloyd was the one to break the silence, of course. Whether through bravery or ignorance, Raine couldn't tell. "You're not a half-elf, are you?"

"No." Jade looked up at Lloyd, raising an eyebrow.

"Then how come you can use magic?" Lloyd sat down beside Jade like he was a schoolteacher at story time. Raine was hoping to find a more tactful way of putting the question. The last thing she wanted was to put Jade on the defensive, when he'd chose his words carefully instead of being honest. Luckily, it didn't. Jade sat there, blinking, unable to answer.

"On our worlds, only people with elven blood are able to use magic." Raine explained. Jade pondered that for a moment, bringing his fingertips to his forehead until he seemed to reach a conclusion.

"Yes, that would make sense." He commented under his breath, and looked around. Lloyd sat there, legs crossed, tapping his knee impatiently. Jade sighed, and started to explain. "On Auldrant, there aren't any elves. There are some humans, like myself, with the ability to use what you call 'magic.' However, in this world it's much more difficult to draw in the energies I need to cast anything. Under normal circumstances, I suspect people from Auldrant wouldn't be able to use magic here."

"So, what's so different about this situation?" Raine asked, following Jade's explanation to the next logical question.

"It's complicated. Suffice it to say that I can draw in those energies faster than other people from my world. Even so, I estimate I'll only be able to use low-level spells while I'm here." Jade's voice had a hint of bitterness to it. Was the loss of his power frustrating him? As Jade finished speaking, the rest of the party exchanged glances, trying to gage everyone's opinion. Lloyd got up, and walked around to the other side of the campfire. Another group-huddle ensued. It was generally agreed upon that the story seemed plausible enough, considering their limited knowledge of Auldrant. Eventually, Sheena nodded to the group and they disbanded. She spoke.

"Alright. We believe you, for now. But that still leaves one more problem: what's Yggdrasil going to do now that you've joined us instead of him?" She went back to the rock she had been sitting on before the huddle, and sat back down.

"The way I see it, he has three options." Jade said, counting it out on his index finger."First, he can ignore me and continue on with his original plan."

"No way that's gonna happen." Lloyd sat up straighter. Raine wasn't surprised. This part of the conversation was probably more to his liking than a discussion on the mechanics behind extra-terrestrial magic.

"His original plan involved sending his subjects here to try and take Colette from us." Raine pointed out. "So he could also decide to kidnap the both of you while you're together."

"That's another possibility." Jade nodded and continued his analysis, checking off this option on his finger. "Second; he can try and summon another fomicry researcher and convince them to join him instead."

"Is there someone on your world who would do that?" Sheena asked. Jade nodded, and smiled a disturbing little smile.

"Yes. Just one. Luckily for us, he's an idiot. It shouldn't be too hard to take care of him." He ticked off another finger, but Raine was able to guess what the third option was.

"And third, he can find a Replica and an Original and try to reverse-engineer the process himself," she said.

"Exactly," said Jade.

"How easy would that be?" Zelos asked.

"Unfortunately for us, it shouldn't be too difficult. There's only one such pair on all Auldrant, but they're both fairly high-profile." Jade removed his glasses, pulling a cloth out of his pocket and wiped dust off the lenses. "But at least, they'll be even less willing to help Yggdrasil than I am."

* * *

Pronyma and two angel subordinates attacked just as everybody was getting ready to fall asleep. A smart move: the Chosens' group had hers vastly outnumbered, but they were tired. Raine's guess had turned out to be correct. The standard sort of threats were made: Hand over Colette and Jade or they would be taken by force.

The party charged in, splitting into three groups. Zelos and Presea ganged up against Angel number 1. Colette, Sheena and Regal launched a three-sided attack against Pronyma. She dodged Sheena's attack by backing into the path of Regal's and just barely avoided that by leaping out of the way. Colette's attack was the one that finally connected.

"Angel Feathers!" she swooped by over Pronyma's head, loosing her attack, knocking her opponent back down to the ground.

Faced with Angel number 2, Jade materialized his spear. This, at least, was still easy, since he kept its component fonons on the outer layers of his left arm. Trying to draw in enough fonons (or mana, as the case was) to cast any artes felt unpleasantly like trying to suck an extra-thick milkshake through a wide straw.

Angel number 2 swooped in to attack Lloyd.  
"You will surrender," it droned.

"I have a name, you know!" Lloyd blocked the attack with his right-hand-sword and stabbed upwards with his left. The angel swooped around him, and then turned around in midair, coming back for another pass.

"You will surrender," it droned, letting fly its attack. The blow hit Lloyd square in the chest, sending him careening backwards. The angel advanced to deal a finishing blow. It raised its hand.

Not good. The attacks had left Lloyd stunned. He wouldn't be able to get up in time. Jade slashed at the angel to draw its attention.

"You know, there aren't any angels on Auldrant." He said. The angel said nothing and turned back to Lloyd, now struggling back to his feet. Behind him, Raine held her staff in both hands, chanting. "You'd make an excellent test subject. It would be a shame to have to kill you," Jade continued. This did it. The angel tuned back to Jade, first its head, and then the rest of its body.

"You will surrender," it droned. Right. Talkative fellow. Jade glanced back at Lloyd and Raine. Lloyd was back on his feet. Raine caught Jade's eye, and nodded. He leapt backwards.

"Photon!" Raine let loose her spell as soon as Jade was out of range.

Before Jade could rejoin the fray, a hand grabbed his arm.

"Psst. Jade," Genis said. "Wait a second. I have an idea." Jade stopped.

"Oh?"

"Do you know Thunder Blade?" Genis asked. Jade thought a moment.

"Yes, but I doubt I'd be able to cast it under the circumstances."

"How about if we both cast it?"

"I see." Jade adjusted his glasses. Ah, so that was it. On Auldrant, two fonists casting the same arte on the same target that would produce an effect approximately 50% stronger than if they'd cast independently. This effect was called the synergy principle. It was one of the reasons it was customary for a platoon of fonists to be stationed aboard each dreadnought. However, in this case, Jade wouldn't be able to complete the spell on his own. It was too hard to gather enough mana. Guaranteed, double-casting now wouldn't produce the full effect. But would it still be enough to boost the power of Genis' spell?

"Well, it's worth a try," he said. He drew his hand up to his chest and began the incantation. When he finished, he looked over at Genis, who nodded.

"Thunder Blade!"

Even with Jade's power diminished, the spell's power was impressive; it slammed into Pronyma full-force before branching off into two smaller 'thunder daggars' and hitting the angels. They collapsed in a heap; unconscious or dead, Jade wasn't sure.

Lloyd moved in to finish things off with a well-timed Double Demon Fang attack while Pronyma was still immobilized by the spell. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough to finish her off.

"Damn," she said through clenched teeth. "Don't think this means you've seen the last of us." She launched one last attack. It was easily dodged, but kicked up a lot of dust. By the time the dust cleared a moment later, she was gone.

* * *

If there was one thing that Yggdrassil had learned in the long history of Cruxis, it was to always have a backup plan, and this case was no different. He returned to the interplanetary portal to summon forth another fomicry expert. This one was his second choice. He wasn't as knowledgeable as Jade the Necromancer was, but considering that Jade had invented the science, Yggdrassil doubted anybody would be. Mr. Second Choice was a magitech expert. According to Yggdrassil's research, he had even built fomicry machines in the past. The only task, then, would be to adapt the technology to use the mana of the two worlds. This is what he'd hoped Jade would have done. But no matter. Yggdrassil was sure the new researcher would be able to do it, given the proper resources. Yggdrassil might be able to piece together a device, himself, but that was plan C.

Once the portal was unsealed and fully charged, he activated his targetting scanners, pointing them towards his second target. The pillar of light formed, wider than last time, but still within safe parameters. The split in space was next, growing wider and wider until it was less a slit and more an oval. A silhouette slowly materialzed within the beam. The silhouette of a rather skinny man of average height, sitting in a chair shaped like two rose petals that hovered a few feet above the floor.

"Dist the Reaper." Yggdrassil stated as the split shrank and vanished, taking the pillar of light with it.

"That's Rose! Dist the Rose." The man in the chair pouted, crossing his arms and making a show of increasing his altitude and looking down on Yggdrassil.

"I am Yggdrassil, leader of Cruxis." Yggdrassil continued without acknowledging he'd heard the correction. "I've summoned you here because I require your assistance."

"With what?" asked Dist, uncrossing his arms and putting them back on the armrests.

"I want you to build me a replicator. I need you to create a replica of a girl, Colette, so I can use it for the revival of Martel." Yggdrassil modified his speech somewhat this time, hoping for more favorable results.

"Revival?" Dist gripped the sides of his chair and leaned as far forward as he could manage without falling off. Lowering the chair, he looked Yggdrassil right in the eyes. "I'll work with you on one condition: When you're finished with your Martel, I want to use the replicator."

"That will be acceptable." Once Yggdrassil had Martel back with him, he'd have no further use for the machine. If Dist wanted to use it, it was of no consequence to him. Dist sat back in his chair, grinning and spinning it around once.

"Mister, you've got youself a deal."


	5. Chapter 5

**Symphony of the Abyss**

**Chapter 5**

It took another week to locate the next target. Dist was a brilliant magitechnician. He would be able to build an entire fomicry lab, given the proper materials and enough worker-drones. His motives were even closer to Yggdrassil's own than Jade's were, so there was no fear of betrayal. Dist was perfect for the job. With one exception: his understanding of the fundamental theory involved in the fomicry process was severely lacking. He knew enough to build the device, but nowhere near enough to adapt the process for use with mana. No matter. Yggdrassil would be able to figure it out himself, if he had examples to work from. This was where Dist came in handy again. He knew of a perfect replica, and his original, both of which were still alive. Even their mana signatures were said to be identical. They were practically walking textbooks. Even so, with all the information Dist was able to give, it was still difficult to locate two people over an entire planet.

The first one they found had been traveling with Jade. Luke fon Fabre. Some nobleman's son. Yggdrassil forgot whether he was the original or the replica, but no matter. That would be sorted out later on.

The teleportation itself went flawlessly. Yggdrassil sat back while Dist operated the console until eventually, a boy stood on the platform. He was about Lloyd Irving's age, with short red hair.

"Where am I?" the boy asked dully, looking wide-eyed around the room until he eventually laid eyes on Dist. "You? What are you doing here?"

"Never you mind." Dist replied. "Just be a good boy and cooperate." He waved an arm and two angels restrained Luke on either side, with a third moving in to confiscate his sword. Luke struggled as best he could, twisting this way and that, trying to wrench his arms from the angels' grip. He pulled one free, and punched the right-hand angel out of the way only to have another one swoop in to take its place. He kicked furiously, bringing the angels down to their knees, but their grip didn't loosen. Yggdrassil smiled. He knew they would sooner die than let go. Luke was slowly loosing energy, but it was taking far too long for Yggdrassil's taste. He raised a hand to signal another angel. Luke gave one last kick, but the only thing it accomplished was earning him a nosefull of a bitter-smelling gas. The strength drained from Luke's body, and he collapsed.

* * *

It took Kratos an hour or two after he'd gotten word about the new prisoner before he was able to find the time to see him. According to Dist's report, it was one of the fomicry test subjects that he'd procured from his homeworld; a boy of about Lloyd's age. Dist insisted great care be taken with his handling, as it was unsure how many 'dastardly tricks' Jade had taught him. At this point, Dist went into a long tirade about the many ways Jade had wronged him, and Kratos wasn't able to get any more useful information out of him. In fact, it took quite some time before he was able to find enough of a break in the 'conversation' to say that he was very busy and to excuse himself. Dist was an irritating man, but at least he was useful. He'd given Kratos both a way to get him out of Dherris-Kharlan, and provided an excuse for his disappearance.

The boy, conveniently enough, was being kept in Jade's old cell, so it took Kratos no time to find him. He didn't notice Kratos standing in front of his cell for a few minutes. He was as close to the force field as he could manage, testing its strength with his fingertips. He touched the field, and quickly withdrew it again as shocks of electricity coursed through his body. He shook the numbness out of his hand. Kratos cleared his throat loudly, and the boy looked dup.

"Who're you? Where am I? What's going on?" he said, as fast as he could get the words out of his mouth. Kratos held up a hand for silence.

"My name is Kratos." Kratos kept his explanation short; time was limited. "You're being kept as a test subject for Fomicry experiments." The boy twitched, balling his hands into fists. Kratos was sure he'd have run up and grabbed Kratos' arms if he was able.

"What? That's ridiculous! Why do you need me for that? I've got to get out of here!" the boy said, practically all at once, as though he couldn't decide which reaction he should have first.

"Calm down. I'm here to help." Kratos said. The boy took a deep breath and sat down on the cot on the right side of his cell. "Your friend Jade was taken as well, but he's escaped. I don't know exactly where he is, but I can take you somewhere where you should be able to track him down." Kratos tapped a few keys on the control pad, and the force field hummed and brightened for a moment before fading into nothing. The boy took a step forward.

"Thanks. I'm Luke." he smiled and held out a hand. Kratos turned his back without shaking it.

"This way. We don't have much time." He headed back through the halls the way he'd come. The sound of footsteps on the metal floor telling him Luke was following close behind.

* * *

Luke was left to his own devices in front of a large, walled city. Even from outside the gate, he could see different tiers of progressively fancier and more skilfully-built structures. It reminded him of his hometown of Baticul in that respect. The gates to the city were shut, and two soldiers were stationed in front. Luke watched as they stopped travellers who tried to enter the city one by one and questioned them. After a few minutes, one of the guards would open the gate just wide enough for the travellers to pass through. Luke swallowed. He didn't have any travelling papers on him -- would he be turned away? Oh well. Nothing to do but to try. Luke took a deep breath, and walked toward the city, until the guard on the left blocked his path.

"Can I get your name, son?" he asked.

"It's Luke," said Luke. "Why?" The guard ignored him for a moment while he pulled out a slip of paper and unrolled it. From what Luke could see, it was a sloppily drawn portrait of some guard stared at it for a moment. Then he stared at Luke. Then he stared at the paper again. Satisfied, he rolled up the paper, and lowered his voice.

"We're on the lookout for the criminal, Lloyd Irving."

"Lloyd Irving?" Luke had never heard of the guy.

"He's a dangerous criminal, guilty of crimes against the Church of Martel." The guard tucked the portrait back where he'd drawn it from. "There are posters up all over the city, so if you spot him, let us know." He waved a finger at his partner, who then went and opened the gate. Luke nodded, and went through.

One hurdle over. Now, how to go about finding Jade? He was supposed to find someone called the Chosen of Mana, right? So who was that? Luke stopped the first person he came across to ask. A rather large man, carrying a large bag filled with gels.

"Excuse me. Could you tell me where to find the Chosen of Mana? "

"That depends," the man smiled a smile that greatly suggested he was pleased with his own wit. "What do you want with him?"

"Oh, nothing much. I just think he might know where... where a friend of mine is."

"So who's your friend? If I see him, I'll let him know you're looking for him."

"Jade." Luke felt a weight lift off his shoulders. It looked like this wouldn't be as hard as he'd thought. "Jade Curtiss." Luke heard a dull thud as the man dropped his sack of gels. His eyes widened and his skin paled a few shades.

"Jade the Necromancer?" the man managed to say. Luke blinked twice.

"How did you know that?"

The man scrambled to pick up his shopping, and hurried away down the street without another word. Weird. If that Kratos guy was telling the truth, this was a completely different world. So nobody here could possibly have heard of Jade's reputation. Luke pushed this line of thought out of his mind for the moment, and continued to explore the city. He stopped to ask various townsfolk about this 'chosen' fellow as he worked his way higher, usually with no better luck than he'd had with that first man. At one point, he'd stopped a few ladies in the plaza in front of the coliseum to ask them about the Chosen.

"Oh MY! How could someone like that possibly be your friend?" the lady on the right said, after Luke had gotten to his point.

"Uh, well --" he started, but got no further before the other woman interrupted.

"I heard he was planning on blowing up the cathedral." she said.

"I heard he was a half-elf, and was trying to assassinate the Chosen one." added the first.

"Um..." said Luke, taking a few steps backwards. He was honestly starting to wonder if there was more than one Jade Curtiss.

"You aren't trying to harm that poor man as well, are you?" The second woman took a few commanding steps forwards, until her mouth was mere centimetres from Luke's nose. "I think you're looking for poor Zelos because you ARE Jade the Necromancer, aren't you?" Both women leaned forward, hands on their hips, and inspected Luke intently from foot to head.

"Maybe he's Lloyd Irving, and Jade's just part of his gang." the first suggested. The two ladies were now throwing theories back and forth as though Luke was just a picture on a wanted poster taped to the window of a hair salon. "I heard from Janet that Lloyd has red hair."

"No, dear, he has a red _shirt_." Insisted number two. "This fellow is one of Lloyd's gang."

Luke figured it'd be a good idea to leave. He'd heard about the power of gossip, but this was ridiculous. "Um... sorry to bother you." He turned to leave the moment the words were out of his mouth, but a crowd of bystanders blocked his path. When had they gotten there? Today's round of competition must have ended while the ladies were talking. Looking at the crowd, Luke felt a cold chill run down his back. They were all talking amongst themselves, pointing, and doing their best to avoid eye contact.

"He's trying to escape! Someone catch him." a voice from the crowd called out, and the mob was upon him. Punches and kicks came from every which direction. Luke could barely manage to avoid most of the blows, let alone look for an escape. He blocked a punch aimed for his stomach, but wasn't fast enough to avoid a kick to the shin. The shouts of the crowd grew louder and louder, until Luke could barely hear the clinking of the city guard as they marched to investigate the scene. Wait, the city guard? Luke was saved! Surely they'd understand the crowd was just jumping to conclusions.

"Alright now, clear off," the squad leader announced. "What's going on here?"

"We've captured Jade the Necromancer." someone said. It was that first lady again. The squad leader glanced at Luke

"Are you sure it's him?" he asked.

"Positive. He's been going around asking strange questions about the Chosen."

The crowd broke out in general murmurs of assent, surprise, and comments about how Luke'd asked them, too. Luke stared at the ground, fists shaking. He couldn't take it anymore - he'd have to set the record straight.

"That's not true!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, stunning the crowd into silence. The squad leader wiped a speck from the inner corner of his eyes and signed.

"You haven't been asking about Master Zelos, the Chosen?"

"Well, I have, but --"

"And you're not out to harm him?"

"Of course not."

"So who are you, then?"

"Luke. Luke fon Fabre."

The squad leader turned to leave, but stopped and asked one last question.

"Can anyone vouch for your identity?"

"Um..." Luke began to sweat a little the angry and suspicious stares of the crowd bored into him. "No."

"I'm going to have to ask you to come with me." the squad leader grabbed Luke by the upper arm and started pulling him away. Luke didn't resist.


End file.
